Careers Insight: Nurture the next generation

Classroom Lecture

At the time of writing, I am sitting in my office looking forward to the Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying event in two hours’ time and eager to see if Max Verstappen can make it three wins out of four races before they go into their summer break.

Verstappen was once dubbed ‘Mad Max’ and the start of last season was littered with errors, but he has since taken steps to turn his fortunes around.

He got his head down and worked on what was required and the results are now evident. Since he banned his family from coming to races early in the season, his father, Jos, a former Formula One driver himself, has been back in the paddock helping him to become a leading title contender. What has changed in his approach?

“Consistency,” Verstappen said, while his boss, Christian Horner, added: “Knowing when to peak and when not to, when to take a risk and when not to; all these kinds of thing help.

“His speed, his race craft, have never really been in any doubt, but he’s got that collection of knowledge and experience now. This year he has stepped up as well as the senior driver.”

Starting out

Not that I was ever called ‘Mad Paul’ – to the best of my knowledge, anyway – but I can honestly relate the journey undertaken by Verstappen to my own career as, from the age of 17, I became a manager of a team in a major clearing bank in the City.

I know I made many errors managing a much older and more experienced group of people early on and, despite taking lots of advice from various people (family, colleagues, friends), it wasn’t helping.

So I consciously made the decision to stop courting and listening to advice from others, as I realised I had to learn for myself and think more carefully about the decisions I made and the knock-on effects that they might have.

From that moment I never looked back and eventually I could listen to and absorb feedback and advice from others. I am sure that was because I was becoming more comfortable in knowing ‘me’.

Shared experiences

Since becoming a consultant two years ago, I have had the pleasure of meeting many marketers who run the marketing operations for lenders, distributors, fintech firms and other suppliers. Many of these people are relatively young (most are, let’s be honest, compared to me) and are in their first senior role (and often the most senior marketer in that organisation), while also working in our industry for the first time.

I recently hosted an informal drinks event for some of those who would be included in the above category, as I am very aware that it is much more difficult for today’s marketers to find time to meet peers and to share experiences and ideas. Also, with the many strands to our market, it became clear during the drinks that many not only did not know each other but had never heard of the businesses each worked for – even when those businesses were leaders in their sector.

I plan to host these drinks every three to four months in London, so feel free to drop me a line if you would like to come along to our next event.

Formal and informal support

My final point goes back to ‘Mad Max/Paul’ because far too often we do not provide our next generation of marketing leaders with any informal or formal support to help them build their experience, especially with regard to the many vagaries of this market.

It should not be this way and there are many experienced

people who can ‘buddy’ with them to provide help and support when needed.

Or one can make use of the many independent ‘old hands’ littered around the industry as a ‘phone a friend’ option.

We have a duty to make our successors the best they can

possibly be. If you are a business that has hired outstanding young marketing talent, what are you doing to give them that support?